Gestational Diabetes: What’s It All About?

Type I, Type II, adult onset … diabetes terminology can be confusing. When a woman with no prior diabetes develops high glucose (sugar) levels in her blood during pregnancy, that condition is referred to as “gestational diabetes.”

By Andrea Renskoff

Gestational diabetes affects about 4 percent of all pregnant women in the United States, according to the American Diabetes Association. Race and family history can present a higher risk. But the number of cases is on the rise because the likelihood of developing it is much greater in women who are of older maternal age or who are overweight.

Hormones from the placenta help the baby develop. However, those same hormones can interfere with a woman’s ability to produce and use insulin.  Glucose builds up in her blood when there isn’t enough insulin to convert it into energy. In most cases, a woman’s glucose levels will return to normal after delivery.

Screening – Although increased thirst and frequent urination can be warning signs of diabetes, those are commonplace during pregnancy. Gestational diabetes rarely presents any symptoms. The glucose screening given between the 24th and 28th week of pregnancy will most often be the first indication of the condition. A woman will drink a solution that tastes like a very sweet soda and an hour later, blood will be drawn. If the glucose level is suspiciously high, she’ll be scheduled for a longer test in which blood is taken over the course of several hours.